Kazuma Kobori’s improved driving helps in Ireland


Kazuma Kobori – file image Australian Golf Media 

New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori is in a share of 5th place at the halfway stage of the US$6 million Amgen Irish Open at the Trump International Links in Doonbeg, Ireland, the 24-year-old’s second round of 67, leaving him six shots behind the former winner, Shane Lowry, but just three shots out of second place.

Kobori, who is currently 76th in the Race to Dubai rankings, comes off an improved 9th-place finish at the recent British Masters and is pushing for a place in the top 50 in the Race to Dubai to earn a place in the DP World Tour Championship in November, the field for which he made in his rookie season in 2025.

Kobori began the day with a bogey but followed up immediately with three consecutive birdies and added one further birdie at the 10th and given his early tee time, was vying for the lead at that stage.

Lowry was out two hours after Kobori, and when he added an amazing round of 62, he was three ahead, and it would be he that the field will chase over the final 36 holes.

Daniel Hillier, who was forced to withdraw from last week’s Omega European Masters, added a second consecutive 69 to be in a share of 20th as he looks to consolidate his position inside the top 10 recipients of a PGA Tour card for 2027, the leading 10 in the Race to Dubai rankings and not otherwise exempt on the PGA Tour earn the right to play there next season.

Victorian David Micheluzzi was the only other Australasian to make the cut, finishing in a share of 47th heading into the weekend.

Kobori leads the driving accuracy statistics on the DP World Tour but has struggled a little form the tee of late although he feels he may have it worked out.

“Actually been battling a bit like maybe the last month or so, but I think we figured out what’s going wrong and, yeah, drove it well today,” said the man from Canterbury in New Zealand’s South Island.

“Just experimenting with the driver heads and stuff like that. I had a bit of a hard time adapting to the new model that Titleist brought out. But I’ve done a bit of experimenting, and I think we got to a good setup. With the driver, you want to get to a spot where you can just swing it and not really steer it all too much. So, yeah, I think we got to that point.

“ Yeah, hopefully keeping that going would be good.”

Leaderboard 

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The Solheim Cup shaping as another tight contest


The USA side – image Ladies European Tour

It may not involve players from our region, but there is little doubting the interest created here in the Australasian region by the Solheim Cup, which, like its male counterpart (The Ryder Cup), has developed into one of the more competitive and fascinating battles in world sport.

This week sees the 20th edition of the event between the USA and European female golfers, first played in 1990, and while eight of the first eleven encounters went to the seemingly more powerful Americans, the Europeans have balanced the ledger to a great extent by winning four and sharing the honours in five of the last eight stagings of the event.

This week, the Americans will again hold the advantage in terms of world ranking strength, but as the European Ryder Cup team has shown over the last 40 years at least, rankings on paper count for little in the fierce contest that has developed between the two teams.

Nine of the USA side are inside the top 50 in the Rolex World Ranking, while only five of the Europeans are in that category, although it is in the last few players of each team where the discrepancy becomes even more obvious in the favour of the Americans.

That the event is to be contested on what is essentially home soil for the Europeans, the partisan European crowd in Bernardus in the Netherlands will ensure some of that imbalance in rankings is reduced.

The event is played over three days, with Fourball and Foursome matches played on each of the first two days, and 12 Singles matches played on day three for a total of 28 points.

European Team

USA Team


The European side – image – Ladies European Tour 

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Steve Alker makes it three in a row


Alker’s amazing run continues with success in Northern Ireland – image Staysure Legends Tour  

New Zealander Steve Alker has made it three wins in succession with a two-shot victory over South African Hennie Otto at the NI Legends Galgorm in Northern Ireland, an event on the Staysure (European Senior) Legends Tour.

Alker, who in the previous two weeks had won in Canada and in Michigan on the PGA Tour Champions, led after his opening round of 67 and was tied for the lead through 36 holes of the 54-hole contest with Scotland’s David Drysdale.

Drysdale’s birdie at the first to Alker’s bogey saw a two-shot swing in Drysdale’s favour, but a birdie at the 3rd by Alker and consecutive bogeys at the 5th and 6th by Drysdale had Alker back in front. A powerful back nine of 32 was enough to see off a strong challenge from Otto whose bogey-free 64 ensured Alker needed to remain vigilant over the closing stages.

Birdies at the 16th and 18th saw Alker home to win his second standalone Staysure Legends Tour event nearly two years after his first, which came at his last start on that tour.

“It’s pretty special, three in a row doesn’t happen very often, so you’ve got to make the most of it,” Alker told the Staysure Legends Tour after his two-stroke victory.

“It was a tough day — it got pretty close. The front nine, nothing was really happening, so to finish strong on the back nine, just hitting some better shots and making a couple of putts. That was really nice. There were some good players up there, guys who’ve played on the European Tour for a long time, so I knew I had my work cut out.

“The birdie on 16 was huge for me. I hit a nice 3-wood and wedged it to four or five feet. That meant I didn’t have to birdie 18 — it’s always nice when you don’t need to birdie the last. Having that one-shot cushion meant the heart wasn’t going as fast. It was nice to have that feeling.

“I’ve had a blast on the Staysure Legends Tour this week — always do when we come over here. My wife and I stayed in the hotel, it’s been a special week for us, and one we’ll remember for a long time.”

Alker’s next appearance is likely to be at the Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach Golf Links in ten days where he has regularly finished inside the top 5.

Mark Brown 17th and Michael Campbell 21st were the next best of the New Zealanders in the field.

RESULTS

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